1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for setting communication parameters of networks among communication devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, devices that are treated as peripheral devices of a computer, such as a digital camera, a printer, a storage, a scanner, a data input unit, and a data output unit, have been capable of directly communicating with each other via cables without computer intervention. Furthermore, demand for performing wireless communication instead of wired communication has increased, and wireless communication among the aforementioned peripheral devices has come into use.
A method for setting parameters for wireless communication in individual devices is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 20030100335-A1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-163668). In this publication, one device holds two types of communication parameter information. The one device transfers second wireless communication parameters (parameters for infrastructure communication) directly to another device by wireless communication (ad hoc communication) using a wireless network that is configured with first wireless communication parameters (parameters for ad hoc communication). Then, the second wireless communication parameters are set in the other device, and both devices connect to the same wireless network with the second wireless communication parameters.
However, in the foregoing known method, the one device does not necessarily transfer wireless communication parameters that are suitable for the environment to the other device. Thus, the one device may transfer to the other device wireless communication parameters with which actual communication cannot be performed, and the other device may be incapable of connecting to any network.
Moreover, a problem exists, in that the other device can connect only to a specific network that can be accessed with the second wireless communication parameters even in an environment in which a plurality of wireless networks are available.